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The investigation into the unauthorized release of "The List" of 1,300 names people who were supposedly in the country illegally is complete and the outcome could be announced soon.
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Wednesday that his office screened the case and he expects to make an announcement next week, nearly eight months after the list was released to news outlets and law enforcement agencies.
Shurtleff's office spent months investigating whether laws were broken when the list of 1,300 names was compiled, apparently from state data maintained by the Department of Workforce Services.
Two DWS employees, identified by sources as Teresa Bassett and Leah D. Carson, were terminated by the department and are suspected to be the source of the list.
Bassett's attorney has denied she was involved. Bassett changed her name to London Grace Wellington last month as her pen name for writing books. In January, she provided handwriting samples and biological information to investigators.
Copies of the list — which included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates, due dates for pregnant mothers and other information — were sent anonymously to news organizations and police agencies in July.
The revelation created panic in the Latino community whose leaders called it "psychological terrorism" and created fears of mass deportation.
DWS determined the information likely came from a state database of families who applied for state benefits for themselves or their children. It is unclear how many of the names on the list actually belonged to people in the country illegally. Several who were contacted by The Tribune said they were legal residents.